Change is good
by i'mthedefinitionofweird
Summary: Hermione and Draco are back at Hogwarts and everything has changed


**Hey,**

**So everything belongs to the lovely J K Rowling (duh!)**

**I posted this story a while ago but I just didn't do anything with it and ended up deleting it. However today it was a muck-up day at my school and it was harry potter themed and I remembered this. I am going to continue it here cause my friend said it was good and wants to see it so...yeah**

**ENJOY!**

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**Chapter 1 - Hogwarts Express**

The platform was just as busy as she remembered it. Filled with parents hugging their children goodbye as they hurriedly pushed them onto the train wiping tears from their eyes. Passing forgotten items through the windows and hastily placing last kisses on children's' foreheads. Proud parents holding hands as they watched their kids' board happily without a care in the world. Tiny first years with eyes wide, staring at the older students who were stood in huddles greeting each other warmly. Gaggles of girls staring gooey eyed at boys walking past and giggling at tales of the holidays. After all she had gone through and all she had seen it was strange to see such normality. She thought she would never be here again yet she was stood again where it had all started.

Hermione had immediately jumped at the opportunity to return to Hogwarts to complete her last year. She needed a routine, a familiar place, a boring normal life. Not one filled with rounding up the last of the death eaters and chasing crime like Harry and Ron had chosen to pursue. She needed a life that wasn't full of paparazzi chasing her around as if she were a pop star. She couldn't stand all the pictures plastered on the pages of the Daily Prophet under the caption of 'Gryffindor Princess'. So that's how she had wound up standing alone on platform 9 3/4 glad to be back once again.

Hermione heard the final whistle of the Hogwarts Express and snapped out of her trance. She heaved her large suitcase behind her while holding a cat box, with a very annoyed Crookshanks inside, precariously under an arm. She tried heaving her bag up the fairly large step of the train and failed. She knew she shouldn't have packed those muggle novels she had been reading. She thought about levitating her suitcase up by magic and then realised she had placed her wand in the bottom of the very same bag she was failing to pull onto the train. She sighed and mentally scolded herself as she tugged at the handle again to no avail.

"Would you like some help with that Granger?" A deep manly voice asked from behind her. Before she could reply he had tugged the suitcase from her hands and easily carried it onto the train as if it didn't weigh as much as 5 solid gold cauldrons. She hurried on after him just as the train doors snapped shut.

Hermione looked up at the tall man standing before her and got the shock of her life. "Malfoy?!" she practically shouted. "Sorry, that was very rude of me. I just...umm...didn't expect it to be you." She immediately remarked. She swallowed and then said awkwardly "err…thanks for helping with my bag." He nodded at her and shot her a small smile as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair. It was now silky smooth and completely free of the gel that he used to layer on thick when he was younger, and he brushed a few strands out of his stormy grey eyes. He opened a door to an empty compartment and gestured for her to enter first. She smiled and wandered in sitting next to the window. Draco followed after and hauled her bag into the air, placing it on the luggage rack above his head. Hermione couldn't help but notice the way his arm muscles strained and how his black T-shirt clung to his perfectly toned body. She could feel a light blush tickling her cheeks so she ripped her gaze from him and instead focused it on the green countryside flashing past the window.

0o0

Draco was surprised at how tall he had obviously got since he had last seen her, while she had hardly grown at all. Hermione only came up to his chest, her head just barely reaching the bottom of his neck. She looked so fragile, as if she would snap in half at the slightest gust of wind. She couldn't even lift her own bag up the train's step. However he would be unwise to underestimate her. That punch in third year had broken his nose! As he sat down opposite her in the empty carriage he couldn't help but notice how much she had changed. Her hair was no longer a bushy, tangled mess, it was long and wavy, shimmering every time she moved. It framed her face which had grown more mature. Her eyes still held an air of intelligence but now they also held a certain fire and a strangely mischievous sparkle or two. Her body had matured too. Dressed in her muggle clothes Draco could see she now had generous curves and legs that seemingly went on forever. He blinked and then looked away feeling embarrassed. God he was such a hormonal teenage boy!

"So how's the Gryffindor Princess?" Hermione jumped as Draco's deep voice shattered the silence. She looked up at him. "I was hoping to get away from that nickname" She said and laughed as she nervously scratched at her arm where the word 'mudblood' was permanently carved. Her hands were immediately snatched up by the wizard sat before her. She met his gaze in shock. His eyes swirled as if a storm were brewing as he whispered "Don't do that". He suddenly came to his senses and dropped her hands hurriedly looking away from her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not stopping that bitch. For just watching as my own aunt carved that onto your arm, and ... and tortured you. I should have done something."

Hermione blinked. "I forgive you" she whispered back. There was a long pause as Hermione tried to get over the fact the Draco Malfoy had just apologised to her. "….So," Hermione smirked, "Think I'm going beat you at every subject again this year ferret?!" Her face broke into a grin and Draco grinned back. "Not this year princess!" His eyes sparkled with laughter at the disgusted face Hermione pulled at what was now his new nickname for her.


End file.
